MIT App Inventor Summit 2016

I’m here in Boston at the MIT Media Lab. First, how cool is that? I’ve read about this place for years, and to actually be here is a privilege.

Secondly, it’s ground zero for App Inventor folks: teachers, students, professors, developers, parents and kids…. the wide spectrum of attendees speaks to the almost universal appeal of App Inventor. If you’re not familiar with AI, well, it’s time to get started! It’s a drag and drop interface that enables anyone from coding newbies to accomplished devs to create mobile apps. It runs only on the Android platform right now, but there is a product in the works called Thunkable (no, I don’t know why) which will work with iOS.

The great thing is that it is a wonderful tool for teaching coding. And in spite of what some might say, it’s real coding. True, it’s not text, but it has a wide selection of components and tools that will allow you do to some very cool things. And then you can perhaps sell it on the Play Store.

But what really resonated with me was the keynote by Hal Abelson. And that deserves its own post!